Thirty years of police work, I got to see the best and worst in people.
From the Monsigneur who made a point to bring me a cup of coffee (liberally laced with Irish Whiskey
) when I was standing on a church crossing on Christmas Eve. Temp was 18° (-7° c) and I had been standing there for 4 hours, with 2 hours left to go. I'll always remember his "God bless and keep you officer, and Merry Christmas!" and that white mug full of steaming instant warmth!
Then there was the year I had a guy come speeding down the road, ran through a red light, nearly broadsided myself and my partner. I pulled him over, license and reg please, and wrote him 3 traffic tickets. After I gave him the tickets (and yes I was a bit distracted, people nearly killing me in accidents does that) he looked at the tickets and said "Officer, don't you know what day this is?" I looked at my copies of the tickets, looked back at him and said "Oh yeah, Merry Christmas Sir." I thought my partner was going to pee his pants he was laughing so hard.
I've had to cover accidents like the one Ruffian spoke of. Trust me, there is nothing worse than telling a family that their son or husband won't be home for Christmas. Ever again. (Boy, that just flashed back some memories, wow)
It's coming up on 3 years ago now, my mom was in hospital in California, my dad was home and my brother had gone out to a party. My brother is 7 years my senior and was out there looking after mom and dad. I spoke to dad on Christmas and we told each other a few jokes as we always did when we spoke. He said he had gone and seen mom in the hospital and was going to relax and watch some tv. Later that night, I got a phone call from my brother. Dad suffered a cardiac arrest that night and never regained consciousness and we lost him on January 2nd.
I've still got my mom though, she's back here on Long Island near to us in a retirement home. She'll be here Christmas Eve, the most important night of the year for us Poles! and she'll stay over and we'll watch the kids open their presents on Christmas morning.
So Christmas is a time of real ups and downs for me, but looking back through the years, the ups definately win out. I make a point to wish everyone a Merry Christmas (except the Jews! But them I wish a very happy Chanukah!) and a healthy and happy New Year.
So the folks who can't or won't give a smile or a happy greeting this time of year, well maybe there's something going on in their lives that has run them fresh out of smiles and kind words, so I give them some of mine. I've got two healty kids and a loving wife. I've got enough smiles to go around.